The Cat and the Comma

I behold the craft of the moment stone in my hands. Like what the books show, it is the size of one's palm and looks much like a bottle of expensive perfume with the dainty crystalline cuts and without the neck. Beyond the glass of the exterior, I can see the arcanium, metal pieces, and other mechanisms that make the magic work. The moment stone is supposedly sturdy enough to survive falls, but it seems quite fragile.

To activate it, one is supposed to rub along the engraved runes. I am unfamiliar with what they might mean, but I glide my finger along the strokes and grooves of the characters, light activating on each spot I touch. If the moment stone contains something interesting, I'll take it to the museum; if not, I'll drop it off at the court and see what they want to do with it. If neither of those want this stone, I'll get cousin Freyn to take it to the lab.

The arcanium within the moment stone vibrates, making the stone tremble in my grasp, and I watch a mist swirl before me and unveil a boy no older than five or six.

The boy has red hair much like my own, and though his smile is quite charming, he is a stranger to me. In his hand is a ball of light, and I see leaves and vines and flowers sprouting from it. A young elementalist prodigy!

Then says a voice not unlike my great grandmother's: "Davonikh!"

I almost drop the stone as the mist dissipates. Davonikh. I remember that name. Davonikh. It's not a common name by modern standards, not even that common back in my great grandmother's day, but it's a name that, when uttered in the Kunniger household, stills the atmosphere and makes my heart pound as my uncle tells everyone to never say it again. Davonikh.

The weather tiday is quite warm and the attic is even hotter, but hearing the forbidden name makes it so chilly. I navigate the labyrinth of boxes and thingamajigs to the trapdoor and descend down to the kitchen to grab a drink. The water fails to soothe me, and I jump when I realize I've brought the moment stone with me. Someone calls from outside, and I barely have time to hide the moment stone in my pocket before the door swings open.

It is cousin Freyn, who's been helping me sort the house.

"Look at what I found, Ritze," he announces as he shows off newspaper after newspaper. "Zilessia the Star Jockey! Our folk were pretty sentimental about great grandma, weren't they?"

"Y-yeah, sure they were."

"Did you find anything good yet?"

I lie. "Not really. Just a bunch of old clothes, furnitures, toolboxes. Portraits."

"No moment stones?"

"I... will keep an eye for them."

"Well, if you find any, let me know so I can take it to the lab."

He drops off the newspapers in our pile of recyclables, which were bound to disappear into society. I don't like the idea of keeping the moment stone I found, but I don't like the idea of putting it away for good, either.

In fact, why had my family ever explained to us who Davonikh was?

"Don't you want them for sentimental value?" I ask.

"Sentiments can't put food on your table. Besides, these people who care, they're mostly dead. Grammy Zi was the youngest of her siblings, and the next generation has three aged folks who can barely remember their immediate family. Who'd remember their items? That's why you shouldn't really invest in collecting so much junk."

"So... you'd disregard the wishes of the dead, yes?"

"Yeah. Call me unethical for it, but we can't keep holding onto these things, you know. Life goes on!" Freyn pauses, then his mouth widens into a grin as he approaches me. "Waaaiiit, you found something."

"Maybe I did. Depends on what you think of the past, maybe."

"Well, I forgive and forget. So. Moment stone?"

"Maybe."

"Moment stone with some intrigue?"

"Maybe."

"A long-lost lover? An embarrassing moment? A highlight of Grammy Zi's career?"

"No, something far more intriguing. More scandalous."

Freyn raises his brows. "Alright, you convinced me. You can keep it, but you must show me."

I take a deep breath. I dip my hand in my pocket and reveal the moment stone. Freyn carefully takes the moment stone and examines it, before activating it himself. Just like with myself, Freyn doesn't think much of the boy in the mist, until my great grandmother's voice says, once more:

"Davonikh!"

In fact, Freyn almost drops it. I seize the stone from him and pocket it once more.

"My word! That is quite the scandal!"

"I know."

Freyn lets himself sink into one of the chairs standing in the hallway. I watch his face flick between all sorts of emotions.

"Belleritze, do you even know who Davonikh is?"

"No. Do you?"

"Not really."

"So... why are we afraid to know more about him?"

Freyn stares at me and I bite my lip. He might be older, but I know even he knows little about the mystery boy and why our relatives would rather catch us dead than hear us talk about him.

"Logic dictates we can do something about it, but my heart says we shouldn't." Freyn sighs. "I can't take this to the lab, and I'm sure it doesn't have much significance to the government either. You're better off donating this to the museum - wait, no, we can't have any Kunniger see that boy, we should throw it away or something."

"I can't just do that. Who knows, maybe he's an important part of Grammy Zi."

Freyn tries to find an argument, but his mouth simply opens and closes like a fish. Finally, he says, "Honestly, it's your call. The moment stone's technically your property now, and like I said, the ones who might've seen value in it are now gone."

"That's right."

"If you do decide to uncover the truth, which I don't think really matters that much in the long run, but... I can't really back you up if things get chaotic, Ritze."

I think about all our aunts and uncles. I think about our other cousins and my parents. Then I think about Great-Grandmother Zilessia, the belle of the family in her time, the star jockey of the sky lanes.

It was forbidden to speak of Davonihk, but Grammy Zi kept a moment stone of him, nonetheless.

I close my eyes and nod. "I'll take the risk."

Magic, much like science, is quite a great tool. It's such a rich and colorful field of study, that people scramble to invent all sorts of things based on its principles. One of such inventions was the moment stone.

The moment stone, like its name implies, preserves a moment in one's life. For the wealthy, to show off all sorts of novelties they gathered. For the working class, to record the family genealogy for the reference of the younger generation. For the poor, to remember the rare good times that they can afford. Once used, a moment stone cannot record any new things.

Most moment stones were displayed back in the day, but then, people started using them to spy on one another and take personal details without consent. Huge debates sparked between labs and courts, and ultimately, moment stones disappeared from shelves. A few of them remain in government custody and the museums, but for everyday citizens, their only hope of ever seeing one in person was if someone's great grandmother had it buried in her attic and said someone found it.

That said someone is I, Belleritz Kunniger.

I behold the craft of the moment stone in my hands. Like what the books show, it is the size of one's palm and looks much like a bottle of expensive perfume with the dainty crystalline cuts and without the neck. Beyond the glass of the exterior, I can see the arcanium, metal pieces, and other mechanisms that make the magic work. The moment stone is supposedly sturdy enough to survive falls, but it seems quite fragile.

To activate it, one is supposed to rub along the engraved runes. I am unfamiliar with what they might mean, but I glide my finger along the strokes and grooves of the characters, light activating on each spot I touch. If the moment stone contains something interesting, I'll take it to the museum; if not, I'll drop it off at the court and see what they want to do with it. If neither of those want this stone, I'll get cousin Freyn to take it to the lab.

The arcanium within the moment stone vibrates, making the stone tremble in my grasp, and I watch a mist swirl before me and unveil a boy no older than five or six.

The boy has red hair much like my own, and though his smile is quite charming, he is a stranger to me. In his hand is a ball of light, and I see leaves and vines and flowers sprouting from it. A young elementalist prodigy!

Then says a voice not unlike my great grandmother's: "Davonikh!"

I almost drop the stone as the mist dissipates. Davonikh. I remember that name. Davonikh. It's not a common name by modern standards, not even that common back in my great grandmother's day, but it's a name that, when uttered in the Kunniger household, stills the atmosphere and makes my heart pound as my uncle tells everyone to never say it again. Davonikh.

The weather tiday is quite warm and the attic is even hotter, but hearing the forbidden name makes it so chilly. I navigate the labyrinth of boxes and thingamajigs to the trapdoor and descend down to the kitchen to grab a drink. The water fails to soothe me, and I jump when I realize I've brought the moment stone with me. Someone calls from outside, and I barely have time to hide the moment stone in my pocket before the door swings open.

It is cousin Freyn, who's been helping me sort the house.

"Look at what I found, Ritze," he announces as he shows off newspaper after newspaper. "Zilessia the Star Jockey! Our folk were pretty sentimental about great grandma, weren't they?"

"Y-yeah, sure they were."

"Did you find anything good yet?"

I lie. "Not really. Just a bunch of old clothes, furnitures, toolboxes. Portraits."

"No moment stones?"

"I... will keep an eye for them."

"Well, if you find any, let me know so I can take it to the lab."

He drops off the newspapers in our pile of recyclables, which were bound to disappear into society. I don't like the idea of keeping the moment stone I found, but I don't like the idea of putting it away for good, either.

In fact, why had my family ever explained to us who Davonikh was?

"Don't you want them for sentimental value?" I ask.

"Sentiments can't put food on your table. Besides, these people who care, they're mostly dead. Grammy Zi was the youngest of her siblings, and the next generation has three aged folks who can barely remember their immediate family. Who'd remember their items? That's why you shouldn't really invest in collecting so much junk."

"So... you'd disregard the wishes of the dead, yes?"

"Yeah. Call me unethical for it, but we can't keep holding onto these things, you know. Life goes on!" Freyn pauses, then his mouth widens into a grin as he approaches me. "Waaaiiit, you found something."

"Maybe I did. Depends on what you think of the past, maybe."

"Well, I forgive and forget. So. Moment stone?"

"Maybe."

"Moment stone with some intrigue?"

"Maybe."

"A long-lost lover? An embarrassing moment? A highlight of Grammy Zi's career?"

"No, something far more intriguing. More scandalous."

Freyn raises his brows. "Alright, you convinced me. You can keep it, but you must show me."

I take a deep breath. I dip my hand in my pocket and reveal the moment stone. Freyn carefully takes the moment stone and examines it, before activating it himself. Just like with myself, Freyn doesn't think much of the boy in the mist, until my great grandmother's voice says, once more:

"Davonikh!"

In fact, Freyn almost drops it. I seize the stone from him and pocket it once more.

"My word! That is quite the scandal!"

"I know."

Freyn lets himself sink into one of the chairs standing in the hallway. I watch his face flick between all sorts of emotions.

"Belleritze, do you even know who Davonikh is?"

"No. Do you?"

"Not really."

"So... why are we afraid to know more about him?"

Freyn stares at me and I bite my lip. He might be older, but I know even he knows little about the mystery boy and why our relatives would rather catch us dead than hear us talk about him.

"Logic dictates we can do something about it, but my heart says we shouldn't." Freyn sighs. "I can't take this to the lab, and I'm sure it doesn't have much significance to the government either. You're better off donating this to the museum - wait, no, we can't have any Kunniger see that boy, we should throw it away or something."

"I can't just do that. Who knows, maybe he's an important part of Grammy Zi."

Freyn tries to find an argument, but his mouth simply opens and closes like a fish. Finally, he says, "Honestly, it's your call. The moment stone's technically your property now, and like I said, the ones who might've seen value in it are now gone."

"That's right."

"If you do decide to uncover the truth, which I don't think really matters that much in the long run, but... I can't really back you up if things get chaotic, Ritze."

I think about all our aunts and uncles. I think about our other cousins and my parents. Then I think about Great-Grandmother Zilessia, the belle of the family in her time, the star jockey of the sky lanes.

It was forbidden to speak of Davonihk, but Grammy Zi kept a moment stone of him, nonetheless.

I close my eyes and nod. "I'll take the risk."

A/N: This story was meant to be a 25-chapter novel, but I found it difficult to express the theme through my concepts for it and the conflict felt like it dragged on for too long to fit 25 chapters. I also had a character named Kurt Lugors, who was intended to be a love interest that will allow me to write a mature and very grounded take on romance, and I'm sad to let him go. But it's all for the best.